Jesús Castro Felix joins Columbia Road

Hi Jesús, How did you get good at what you do?

My curiosity to see and learn took me to several countries for my studies. My formal education is a BSc. in Business Administration from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri, USA and an MSc. in Management and International Business from Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland.

Even though my education is mainly in Business Administration, my desire to learn more about technology moved me away from concentrating purely on business. Soon, I found my position somewhere between business and IT.

Where have you earned your spurs?

I started my career in Grupo Coppel (Retail/ Banking industry) in Mexico City. In my team, my task was to design the credit card application process/credit line increments and to convey those requirements to the developer team. Very soon, I discovered that working with developers and technology was my thing.

Years later, I joined Elisa as a trainee in their IT team and started working with CRMs, especially with Salesforce. During my time there, I moved from trainee, to salesforce solution specialist and finally to Solution Manager of Salesforce. With the help of colleagues, we managed to migrate from Salesforce Classic to Salesforce Lightning smoothly. We managed to leverage Lightning UI capabilities to improve the user experience of the sales and customer service organisations in order to serve Elisa’s customers better.

Nevertheless, all in all, I have to say that I earned my spurs by learning from brilliant people who I've had the privilege to work with in México and Finland. I have been lucky enough to be given the trust to work in a role that was outside my comfort zone and work with excellent colleagues who have supported me and my learning experience.

Why Columbia Road?

I remember seeing “Growth hacking” somewhere online and that led me to the Columbia Road website. My initial thought was that growth hacking sounded very cool – these guys are mixing the design process, latest technologies and data-driven approach to achieve concrete results for their customers. After that, I met a few of Columbia Road’s employees. Most of them often talked about the talented professionals they get to work with and about the amazing work environment that allows Columbia Road to deliver high-quality projects for its clients. As a result, the people, company culture and customer projects that Columbia Road has delivered are the main reasons why I came to Columbia Road.

Eero, what will make our clients love Jesús?

“Jesús is customer-oriented and focuses on understanding the problems that need tackling. He looks at the bigger picture and provides new perspectives. He also has the ability to bring people together like glue, inspiring everyone to work well as a team. He not only helps customers to get great results but also helps all people around him to reach their full potential,” says Eero Martela, General Manager at Columbia Road.

What makes your heart beat a little faster?

Family is very important to me, especially my daughter Lucia. I love spending time with her and seeing how she discovers the world. And then there’s football. I love playing football, talking about it and watching it. My favourite players are Xavi and Iniesta – two guys who rarely try to be in the spotlight, but they help their teammates to reach their full potential. I also love food, especially Mexican and Spanish food. Not only do I enjoy eating, but I also like cooking as it helps me to relax.

How would you fancy working alongside Jesús at Columbia Road? We're constantly looking for new skilful and nice people to join our crew! Take a peek at our open positions 👇